Description: Hang on for the ride of your life as Oscar
Winner Denzel Washington and Chris Pine (Star Trek) team up
for the year’s most electrifying action-thriller. A runaway
train, transporting deadly, toxic chemicals, is barreling
down on Scranton, Pennsylvania, and only two men can stop
it: a veteran engineer (Washington) and a young conductor
(Pine). Thousands of lives hang in the balance as these
ordinary heroes attempt to chase down one million tons of
hurtling steel and prevent an epic disaster. Helmed by
visionary director Tony Scott (Man on Fire), this story
inspired by true events delivers excitement and suspense
that are — unstoppable!

***

A massive unmanned locomotive, nicknamed "The Beast" and
loaded with toxic cargo, roars through the countryside,
vaporizing... anything put in front of it. A veteran
engineer and a young conductor, aboard another train in the
runaway's path, devise an incredible plan to try and stop it
-- and prevent certain disaster in a heavily populated area.

The Film:

Mr. Scott is partial to blunt, rapid cuts; whipping pans; and saturated
colors. He likes twirling the camera around characters, like a
sugared-up tot running 360s on a playground, a hyperactive visual style
that can turn the screen into a blur of pulsating color. Here, working
with the cinematographer Ben Seresin and some ace sound technicians, he
creates an unexpectedly rich world of chugging, rushing trains slicing
across equally beautiful industrial and natural landscapes. There is
something mesmerizing about these trains and the men who run them,
something nostalgic too, because they seem like history machines,
summoning up a past lived and also imagined, as in, for starters, “The
Great Train Robbery” (1903), “North
by Northwest” (1959) and “Speed” (1994).

How Scott deals with his "chase" is not for me to reveal here, but
although the possibilities of two trains on one track would seem to be
limited, he and Bomback are truly ingenious. They employ a kind of
logical lateral thinking: The trains can move only in certain ways, but
those ways may not be as obvious as we assume.

Not that those are terms we're thinking of during the action. The
photography and sound here are very effective in establishing that a
train is an enormously heavy thing, and once in motion wants to
continue. We knew that. But Scott all but crushes us with the weight of
the juggernaut. We are spellbound. And we sure hope those little kids
are saved.

Image : NOTE:The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.

As theatrically described -
'saturated'
is the operative word for Unstoppable
on
Blu-ray
from Fox. It's a thick, heavy, image with color vibrancy and
excellent contrast. The image quality is impressive if
a tad overly brilliant. It certainly suits the film though.
From what I can gather this looked quite similar
theatrically - and is reasonably typical of a Tony Scott
production - meaning visually excessive. This
is dual-layered and has a very high video bitrate.
Skin tones seem true and the image is essentially without a
flaw. This would probably be considered to be reaching
the heights of the format's capabilities for a modern film
to 1080P. Detail is strong and there is some depth shown. It
is easy to discern as HD and I expect it blows the SD DVD
away.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Audio :

A barn-burner
with significant force supporting the expected action/aggression scenes
all embodied in a powerhouse DTS-HD Master 5.1 track at 3942 kbps. The
original score by Harry Gregson-Williams suits the film and balances
well between the cornucopia of action interspersed with more passive
scenes. There is some heavy bass here - enough that it pulses through
your body as it reverberates to the back of the room. Obviously train
sounds, metal and a host of other imposing effect sounds exhibit
phenomenal range and depth.

Supplements are
stacked with a Tony Scott audio commentary covering many details mostly
privy to his directorial preferences. After that there is about a hour's worth of more
specific featurettes involving sound bytes with the cast - more from
Scott, an anatomy of a scene, stunt work, train talk and more. Included
are some
Blu-ray
specific options that run alongside as the film runs - entitled
Tracking the Story: Unstoppable - Script Development. There are a
theatrical trailer, a Digital Copy "How to", sneak peeks and the second
disc digital copy.

BOTTOM LINE: If you are in the mood - this can be a very entertaining film. No
pretension - you get exactly what you might expect from this
genre and there is a modicum of fun along the way. Chris
Pine continues to impress and Denzel is Denzel. Just like
the other Tony Scott train flic - with Mr. Washington - from
2009;
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 - Unstoppable
is an exhaustive ride. You throw everything the Hollywood
express has at its financial means and it can, but not
always, produces something worth viewing. The
Blu-ray gives an abundant, if predictable, night in the home theater.
Popcorn would be suitable. Enjoy!

Gary Tooze

February 16th, 2011

About the Reviewer:
Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film
since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was
around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my
horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out
new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500
DVDs and have reviewed over 3500 myself. I appreciate my
discussion Listserv for furthering my film
education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver.
Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our
Amazon links.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction.